Archives for January 2014

Several times a year the ARRL sponsors a VHF contest. This January my brother Kourt KB5PRZ and I decided to participate. Kourt recently acquired a Volkwagen Westfalia camper van, and we set about equipping it for VHF rover work in the “limited rover” category. Kourt put a great deal of effort into making the van road-worthy, comfortable, and capable of providing power for the radio station. This was its inaugural trip as a mobile radio contesting station. My son came along to learn how it’s done.

Map of our actual route, with elevations

Our strategy: start in Austin and drive to the high points of four maidenhead grid squares (EM10, EL19, EL09, EM00). The more squares we transmit from, the more points we get. We’d use simple omni antennas while en route, then set up directional antennas once we reached our transmitting points, operating in the 6m, 2m, and 70cm bands SSB voice. In Central Texas, we’re fortunate to have the confluence of four grid squares near Wimberley, TX, as well as many hilltops to from which to operate.

The radio station in the Westie

We started by working from EM10 at the highest point in Austin. From there, we proceeded to EL19 in San Marcos. Along the way, there was an E-skip opening on 6 meters that enabled us to work Arizona with a 102″ whip. As the sun fell, we proceeded to a roadside park near Fischer, TX in grid square EL09 and set up camp for the night. With all the creature comforts of the Westie, including heat, running water, electricity, solar & battery power, we enjoyed an evening cooking lentil soup and venison sausage, followed by a restful night with the top popped up. Kourt, KB5PRZ, gives a more detailed description of the work put into the van on the Samba forum.

As the sun rose, we were treated to a fine panoramic view of the Devil’s Backbone. Morning is a great time to take advantage of tropospheric ducting on VHF bands. With the weather being warmer than usual, the chances were good. With our directional antennas we were able to reach as far as the Louisiana border on two meters and Florida on six meters. Satisfied with the morning’s results, we packed up camp and moved on to grid square EM00 on a high ridge between Blanco and Henly. It was the highest point of our trip. From there we continued to work stations as far as the DFW area, Toledo Bend, and Rocksprings.

Sunrise at the roadside park, Devil’s Backbone.

Given our budget and a general desire to do more with less, we were pleased with the performance of the station. More importantly, we had a chance to enjoy a beautiful weekend in the country. It wouldn’t matter much if we had no contacts at all; the Westie was a blast to camp in, and Kourt makes the van very much like a tiny home. We were entertained by the many double-takes as passers-by looked, waved, and wondered what we were doing. We look forward to more contests in the future.

Here are a few ways to listen to the amateur radio scanner:
– At Broadcastify here. If you use the Scanner Radio mobile app, it’s like having your own pocket scanner.
– With your preferred media player or streaming device, the network stream URL is http://audio1.radioreference.com:80/461054660
– Use the embedded feed on this site below:

The archives for the Austin amateur radio feed can be found here. Recordings are kept for six months.

To listen to the Travis County law enforcement and Austin Police Department scanner feed via Broadcastify, go here. The network stream URL for this feed is http://audio1.radioreference.com:80/907330774 . The same feed is also provided right here:

I keep a library of programming files for various radios I own. Considerable effort has gone into curating these and it makes sense to share them. The links below are permanent and will remain fresh as I continue to update them from time to time.

Yaesu FT-8800R CSV: This is a CSV export that is suitable for import to most radios and programming software. It contains all operational repeaters for Travis and continguous counties in central Texas, plus many repeaters that cover major routes between Austin and the metro areas of San Antonio, Houston, Corpus Christi, Big Bend, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Lubbock, and Midland. It also contains several commercial and government frequencies, important channels in the Austin aircraft band, NOAA, FRS/GMRS, MURS, Austin Rail, and more.

Yaesu FT-897D RT Systems: This is the RT Systems format file that contains all central Texas 2M & 70cm repeaters, plus wide coverage repeaters in major Texas metro areas, plus most operational six meter repeaters, plus some 10 meter repeaters in TX, NC, and NY. This also works with the FT-857D.

In Texas, there are a lot of repeaters. About 1,642 according to what some consider a reliable source. Of those, many are “paper repeaters” in that they exist only in repeater directories. These venerable books remind me of the yellow pages — one must ask, “do they still make those?”

It’s challenging to develop a well-curated file of repeaters. One source that’s made it rather easy is RepeaterBook, by ZMB2 software. They’re doing it right. Of all the repeater directories available, some great qualities set it apart:

– the ability of any account holder to submit changes easily;
– frequency files can be downloaded in CHIRP format for transceiver programming;
– the companion mobile app makes it easy to find repeaters in new areas, even more so if combined with the BlueCAT interface.

The result is that I can personally verify the operation of local repeaters, update the database at RepeaterBook, then run a query to download it into CHIRP. Now in my radio I have all the repeaters that work, and none that don’t. Just as it should be.

The benefits of crowd-sourcing a quality repeater directory only work if we all participate. Please do.